A Scotland-based charity is to make its RHS Chelsea Flower Show debut in May with a garden designed as an outdoor artists’ studio and workspace.
Featuring a dramatic, high sculptural, sand dune landscape, the Hospitalfield Arts Garden takes its inspiration from the coastal location of Hospital Arts, a contemporary arts centre in Arbroath.
The 'unique' garden is being designed by Nigel Dunnett, one of the world’s leading voices on innovative approaches to planting design.
RHS Gold-medal winner Dunnett also designed the walled garden at Hospitalfield, encompasses an outdoor arts studio and workspace, a setting for art practice, exhibitions, teaching and performance.
The garden is sponsored by Project Giving Back, the grant-giving charity that funds gardens for good causes at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
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Describing his inspiration for the garden, Nigel Dunnett said: “Chelsea is a place for new ideas, for experimentation, and to take risks, and that is certainly the spirit in which we have developed our garden.
"Working with Hospitalfield Arts, and the exciting and important work with contemporary art and young people, has inspired me to take a very abstract and highly sculptural approach to creating a representation of the landscape of the Angus coast.
"Creating that dramatic dunescape has been a real challenge, and we’ve designed striking structures that hold the sand in ‘wind-blown’ shapes.
"The plants in the garden are all growing in the sand, and this highlights the growing interest in using sands, gravels and aggregates to create and support diverse, resilient planting, as an alternative to rich topsoils.
"We hope this garden will spark conversations about our changing gardening habits, as well as the importance of creating space for the arts in helping us understand and interpret our changing world."
Lucy Byatt, Director at Hospitalfield, said: “At Hospitalfield Arts we support artists in their working lives and at all stages of the careers, inspiring young people especially, to be confident that the arts have an essential place in the world.
"With the incredible garden that Nigel has designed for RHS Chelsea, made possible thanks to funding and support from Project Giving Back, we want to highlight the urgent need to nurture the creativity of young people, to raise the profile of arts education and to inspire the next generation of artists."
The Hospitalfield Arts Garden is designed to be enjoyed by anyone who wants to use the garden as an arts space – including children - and after the RHS Chelsea Flower Show it will be relocated to a primary school close to Hospitalfield in Arbroath.
The relocated garden at Ladyloan Primary School will be adapted to create "a stimulating and important space for children and teachers alike to enjoy and for their creativity to thrive", the charity said.
The Hospitalfield Arts Garden will be launched at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025 whi will take place in the Royal Hospital Grounds, Chelsea, London SW3 4SR from Tuesday May 20 to Saturday May 24 2025.
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